Thursday morning I woke up and was slow moving. Due to that I became even slower moving because I was enjoying helping get my kids up and ready for school which isn't something I routinely get to do. I didn't start walking towards the woods until about 7 am.
My plan for the day was to start out in one stand till early afternoon and then move to an evening only and only certain wind stand for the evening hunt because the thermals aren't suitable for anything but and evening hunt and its right near prime bedding where I've seen many does and bucks utilize including some of the biggest on the farm.
I had an almost 900 yard walk through fields to get to my first stand location. I didn't see any deer leaving or moving as I was walking in and I noted a very heavy dew had fallen the night before. This allowed me to be VERY quiet as I entered the woods. I actually had a squirrel playing in the leaves nearby not pay any attention to me (this is my standard barometer for how silently and smoothly I'm moving through a woods when I'm in stalking mode). I actually was thinking how much I love to stalk through the woods for deer but how its not ideal for bowhunting as I made the 70 yards to my stand.
I had just finished walking around a briar patch and under a few wild grape vines and saw the route I was going to take for the remaining few steps to my stand (less than 15 feet) when I looked ahead of me and there he was standing, relaxed but alert (not on edge) sniffing and trying to figure out what I was almost directly facing me. I remember noticing how large he was, how thick his neck was, a crab claw on the right main beam and a really tall tine and multiple tall tines on the left. This was enough for me to judge "shooter" and make my mind go into shoot mode.
I have never fired a bow or crossbow at an animal before that day. 30 years of only gun hunting habits are hard to break. So I shouldered the crossbow (Ravin R10), flipped off the safety, centered the crosshair for 40 yards on his chest and squeezed. I heard the twang of the string and then a "thunk" similar to when I shoot a target bag. He wheeled and disappeared over the edge of the hill and I heard him running down and off to my right. I now think I did hear him crash but am not positive. I then had a momentary clarity of thought where I know a head on facing shot is not a high percentage shot with a bow (like it is with my standard weapon a gun) but I was hopeful the high powered crossbow was enough to make a difference. I took my mental camera out to his location, dropped my bag at my stand and walked to where I had pinpointed he was standing at.
I could see leaves tore up in the general direction I had heard him run but no hair, or blood like I am used to tracking with. I followed the trail for about 50-70 yards with no blood and the only sign being leaves torn up. I then knew it was going to be a long day and I sat down on a fallen log and called
@xbowguy and he didn't pick up because Maxx was working, I left a text and called
@giles . He talked me off the ledge and we discussed that since I didn't have a great trail to point out to a dog that maybe a drone would be a good option. So I called
@brock ratcliff because I didn't know any drone guys in my area. Brock knew that
@RedCloud was in my area so I called him. Redcloud said he could be there after work.
I then walked out and walked back to my vehicle and house and thought it would be the longest day ever waiting on Redcloud to get there.
About 1030 the other guy hunting the farm (but in a different section) texted me that he had just dropped a big one. I went and helped get his out of the woods and then helped him skin it out and everything. He had had the most amazing 20-30 minutes of deer hunting of his entire career with 10-12 bucks all running around a small couple acre section of woods over one hot doe. It was actually another buck that caused the deer he shot to come back and give him an opportunity as they squared off ready to fight, stiff legged walking and everything. Anyway, that helped kill a few hours and keep my mind off the buck.
Mid afternoon as I started doing other stuff I got two calls. First my son had forgotten some of his football stuff and I needed to run it to the hs to get it to him and also there were a metric crap ton (20-30+) vultures flying around the woods I had hunted that morning. I got back from the hs and slowly drove the one edge of the woods to see if I could spot him but I didn't see him.
Redcloud gets there and on his second flight of the woods we spot him. He does a third flight to confirm his location and that's the video he posted previously. He was able to give me the exact GPS coordinates so I drove/walked right to him and sure enough there he was.
My first bow kill and my first buck that I've taken in 25 years. The other guys hunting the farm had him on a trail cam from 3/4 of a mile away but he had disappeared a few days earlier from that camera. I skinned him out and quartered him. His quarters weighed over 85# when I took them to Bellevue meats to get made into sticks (minus a portion of his backstrap and his fish tenders). His skin and rack is with
@Mallory’s Wildlife Studio and she's going to do a pack mount styled mount out of him. I can't wait. It was truly a TOO team effort and will continue with Mallory doing the taxidermy.
My shot placement was just above his breastbone, took out the left side of his lungs, and then went through his liver and exited on the right flank with a hole big enough to put a beer can in.
Thank you to everyone for their help.
there i was......
